Quality assurance in Sri Lankan Teacher Training : evaluation procedures for the assessment of the internship period

In 2002 guidelines for the implementation of the internship programme for prospective teachers have been released in a joint venture by the Basic Education Sector Programme(BESP) of the GTZ (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit/German Technical Cooperation) and the Professional Development Centre (Teacher Education) of the National Institute for Education of Sri Lanka (NIE). These guidelines aim at assisting the National Colleges of Education (NCOEs) and internship schools in implementing the internship programme and at improving its efficiency and effectiveness in the local venues of teacher training. The Monitoring & Evaluation activity described in the present article was to assess as to how far the intentions originally associated with the internship programme are being accomplished. Its main task is to bring strengths and weaknesses of the programme to light and to appraise the current status of its implementation.